Simon Cowell to launch two series of X Factor

The show has dominated six months of TV for 15 years – so news that Simon was planning to scrap the traditional format came as a bombshell.

But in an exclusive interview, the show’s creator today lays out his four-year grand plan to overhaul his biggest TV brands — telling me he couldn’t stand idle and watch them succumb to an ongoing ratings slide.

In a bombshell series of revelations, the music mogul reveals:

-- There will be TWO series of The X Factor this year — one featuring celebrities and the other an “all-star” line-up of ex contestants

-- He’s launching Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions, which will run in addition to the normal show

-- X Factor judges Robbie and Ayda Williams and Louis Tomlinson are all being lined up for the new formats

Simon told The Sun: “I want to clear up any myths — because I’ve got some exciting news.

“I’ve had a meeting with ITV, I’ve told them what I think we’d like to do with X Factor because we’ve been waiting to have this opportunity.

“The time feels right, and it will be a huge change. We haven’t exactly confirmed the dates or the order of the shows, but essentially there are going to be two versions of X Factor running this year.

“I think it’s going to be huge, it’s the best I’ve felt about this show in years.”

The overhaul will see a celebrity edition of the show and an all-star edition run back-to-back later this year, after he halted plans to begin production on the usual public auditions this month.

He added: “I’m waiting for confirmation this week on some dates and clarification on the second show, but all we’re trying to do is upgrade and glamorise the show.

“ITV wanted the regular X Factor and, as I’ve told you before, we’ve been offered a new five-year deal on both formats, which we haven’t agreed to yet.

“We just want to get this part cleared up first.

“Then next year the main X Factor show will change again and we’ve got something very, very exciting, that I can’t get into yet, but it’s a four-year plan.”

Simon also revealed his scheme to introduce a second annual series of Britain’s Got Talent – following the success of his latest franchise America’s Got Talent: The Champions.

He explained: “So we’ve now got AGT and we’ve got AGT Champions. That was a very good change so there will be a BGT Champions. We are 100 per cent not resting on our laurels.

“I would never want to sit and watch a show like The X Factor slowly fade away and fail but there is only one risk and that’s doing nothing. That is what I call a risk.”

Despite his shock announcements, Simon admits he still has many issues to iron out before he is able to finalise the plans — including how to stretch the new formats over every weekend of the second half of this year.

He added: “It runs for bloody months. No other show can run for months, it’s like putting on a soap opera every year, so that’s what we’ve got to work out, but I’ve got a plan.”